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What to Expect: The 2025 APEC Summit in South Korea
Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 12:00 PMJoin us for a scene setter that explores the stakes and the storylines for The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) 2025 summit, held in Gyeongju, South Korea from October 31 to November 1, 2025. This discussion, held one week prior to the summit, unpacks the most significant agenda items including trade, investment, and geopolitics, with special emphasis on the US, Korea, and the US-Korea relationship. The discussion features senior experts with firsthand experience, including: Ambassador (Ret.)... Read More -
Korea's Compressed Modernity and Its Risks
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | 8:00 AMJoin us for our second conversation with Seoul National University sociology Professor Chang Kyung-Sup who will discuss various challenges posed by South Korea’s “compressed modernity.” He writes that the same strategies and conditions that enabled explosive development and modernization in South Korea and other Asian societies also produced “existentially hazardous consequences in virtually all areas of public and private life, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to sustained advances in the future.” And he... Read More -
Unpacking South Korea’s Snap Presidential Election
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 | 8:00 AM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a rapid reaction analysis of South Korea’s 2025 Presidential election. This snap election was triggered by the impeachment of South Korea’s 13th democratically elected president, Yoon Suk-yeol, after he declared martial law last December. This conversation unpacks the issues, the candidates, the voters, and the results, seeking to understand the domestic political undercurrents and consequences of a 60 day race occurring at a pivotal moment for Korea and U.S.-Korea relations. It features Dr. Aram... Read More -
Seeds of Mobilization: The Authoritarian Roots of South Korea's Democracy
Friday, May 16, 2025 | 12:00 PM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a discussion with Dr. Joan E. Cho, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University on her 2024 book Seeds of Mobilization: The Authoritarian Roots of South Korea's Democracy, which explores the nonlinear nature of South Korea’s democratization. Using oral interviews, original protest datasets, and publications by student and labor activists, Cho illustrates how modernization structures such as industrial complexes and tertiary education initially bolstered authoritarian regimes... Read More -
Reading China: A Roundtable with Zichen Wang
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | 2:00 PMJoin us for this roundtable discussion with Zichen Wang, Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and founder of the Pekingnology newsletter on China, for a discussion on the complexities, contradictions, and communications of China's policies. This roundtable is hosted in collaboration with The National Committee on United States-China Relations (NCUSCR). The moderator of the discussion is The Korea Society President and CEO Thomas Byrne. The Korea Society thanks our corporate... Read More -
The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon with Ankit Panda
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 | 12:00 PM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a conversation with Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on his newly published book: The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon. The book describes how “nuclear weapons are returning to the fore of international statecraft in ways unseen since the Cold War… The prospect of nuclear escalation is again shaping how political decision-makers and military establishments around the world think and act.” The book... Read More -
A Conversation with Ambassador (Ret.) Raymond Burghardt
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 | 10:30 AM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a discussion co-hosted by The Korea Society and Temple University Japan with Ambassador Raymond Burghardt, who served for many years as one of the leading Asian specialists in the U.S. Foreign Service. He was formerly Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) from 2006 to 2016. Previously, he was Ambassador to Vietnam (2001-2004), AIT Director in Taipei (1999-2001), Consul General in Shanghai (1997-1999), Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Manila... Read More -
Acting and Activism with Minnie Mills
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 | 4:00 PM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a conversation on acting and activism with actress and North Korean human rights activist Minnie Mills and Korea Society policy program officer Chelsie Alexandre. Exploring the origin and development of her professional acting career, Minnie discusses roles on “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Obliterated,” and future projects. She then describes her passion for supporting North Korean refugees through volunteering for the nongovernmental organization Liberty in North Korea (LiNK). How does she balance... Read More -
Korea’s Politics of the Vortex: 2025
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 4:00 PM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a discussion about the legacy, implications, and a modern application of the theories from Gregory Henderson’s 1968 seminal text Korea: The Politics of the Vortex, with Edward J. Baker, advisor to the Harvard University Korea Institute, and Dr. Ingu Hwang, Associate Professor of the Practice at Boston College. The discussion will also address Hwang’s 2022 book, Human Rights and Transnational Democracy in South Korea, which examines the role of South Korean pro-democracy actors in (re)shaping the... Read More -
Charting Future Pathways for U.S.-Korea-Japan Trilateral Relations
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | 4:00 PM- Youtube Video:
Join us for a discussion on the current status and future pathways for U.S.-Korea-Japan trilateral relations, with Dr. Joshua Walker, President and CEO of Japan Society, and Emma Chanlett-Avery, Deputy Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Washington DC office and the Director for Political-Security Affairs. The moderator for this program is Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Kim Koo Foundation. The Korea Society thanks our... Read More
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